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Unlike the first conflict, the second war involved several skirmishes that proved costly to the Roman military, who, facing large numbers of allied tribes, struggled to attain a decisive victory. Eventually, however, Rome prevailed and took Dacia. An assault against the capital Sarmizegetusa proved successful and it was burned to the ground. Decebalus fled, but soon committed suicide rather than face capture. The battle for Sarmizegetusa Regia took place at the beginning of the summer of 106 BC with the participation of the ADRIUTIX II and FLAVIA FELIX legions and of a detachment (vexillatio) from the FERRATA VI Legion. The Dacians repelled the first attack, but the water pipes from the Dacian capital were destroyed. The city was on fire, all of the pillars of the sacred sanctuaries were cut down, and the entire fortification system was destroyed. But the war went on. By the treason of Bacilis (a confidant of the Dacian king) the Romans found Decebal's treasure in the river of Sargesia (evaluated by Jerome Carcopino at 165,500 kg of gold and 331000 kg of silver). The last battle with the army of the Dacian king took place at Porolissum (Moigrad).
King Decebal: Either That Emperor Goes or I do!The Dacians had a very powerful custom which encouraged them not to be afraid of death. This is why it was said that they left for war merrier than for any other journey. In his retirement in the mountains, Decebal is followed by the Roman cavalry lead by Tiberius Claudius Maximus. The Dacian religion of Zalmoxis admitted suicide as a last resort by those who were in pain and misery. The Dacians who listened to Decebal's last speech spread his words and many committed suicide. Decebel retreated to the mountains and in the pristine woods sought the means to prepare the recommencement of the battle and to seek revenge.
But the Roman cavalry followed him without rest. They almost caught him, and at that point the great Decebal meets his destiny by ending his life. The great scene of his death may be found on Traian's Column in Rome, as well as in the National History Museum in Bucharest. The Romans exploited the gold mines in the province extensively, building access roads and forts to protect them, like Abrud. The region developed a strong infrastructure and economy, based on agriculture, cattle farming and mining. Colonists from Thracia, Moesia, Macedonia, Gaul, Syria, and other Roman provinces were brought in to settle the land, developing cities like Apulum (now Alba Iulia) and Napoca (now Cluj Napoca) into municipiums and colonias.The Dacians rebelled frequently, with the biggest rebellion occurring at the death of Traian. Sarmatians and Burs were allowed to settle inside Dacia Traiana after repeated clashes with the Roman administration. During the 3rd century increasing pressure from the free Dacians (Carpians) and Visigoths forced the Romans to abandon exposed Dacia Traiana. After the Romans: Gepids, Goths, Huns and AvarsIn 271, the Roman emperor Aurelian abandoned Dacia Traiana and reorganised a new Dacia Aureliana inside former Moesia Superior. The abandonment of Dacia Traiana by the Romans is mentioned by Eutropius in his BREVIARIVM LIBER NONVS. The province of Dacia formed by Traian beyond the Danube, was abandoned by the Romans as Illyricum and Moesia had been depopulated. Roman citizens removed from Dacia were settled in the interior of Moesia, calling that Dacia which now divides the two Moesiae, and which is on the right hand of the Danube as it runs to the sea, whereas Dacia was previously on the left. Germanic Tribes in TransilvaniaThe first wave of the Great Migrations, (270 to 420 AD) brought the influence of migratory tribes, especially the Germanic tribes.In the last decades of the second century, the early Goths from the Wiebark culture to the north (in today's Belarus and Ukraine) moved southward with some extending into Bugeac in lower Bessarabia and as far south as northern Dobrogea and along the lower Prut and Şiret Rivers.Another branch of these migrants from the north are known in Romania as the Sântana de Mureş culture (also used less is the Romanian word "Cerneahov", the approximation of "Chernyakhov" in Ukrainian), settling into the areas of today's Moldova and into the eastern half of Transilvania.A second wave of Germanic migrants arrived in the mid-third century, and most of them settled to the east of Moldova into the Chernyakhov area. Most of the population appears to have been Sarmatians who lived between Dobrogea and the Sea of Azov, as well as Slavs.The Christian Visigoth KingdomThe Visigoths established a kingdom north of Danube and Transilvania between 270-380. The region was known by Romans as Guthiuda and includes the region between Alutus (Olt) and Ister (Danube) too. It is unclear whether they used their term Kaukaland (land of the mountains) for Transilvania proper or the whole Carpathians.
The Goth missionary Bishop Ulfilaş spread the Christianity of the time to the Visigoths. The Arianist view believed that Jesus was not an aspect of God in the Trinity, but a separate being created directly beneath God.This belief was in opposition to the tenets of mainstream Catholicism, which achieved a religious monopoly in the 4th and 5th century.Logistically however, the Visigoths were unable to preserve the region's Roman era infrastructures. The goldmines of Transilvania were ruined and unused during the Early Middle Age.Ulfilas had carried (around 340) Homoean Arianism to the Goths living in Guthiuda with such success that the Visigoths and other Germanic tribes became staunch Arians. When the Goths entered the Roman Empire (around 380) and founded successor-kingdoms, most had been Arian Christians.The New Power of the HunsIn 380 a new power reached Transilvania, the Huns. They drove back every Germanic people from the Carpathian Basin except the Gepids.The Alans, Vandals, Quads left the region toward the Roman Empire. The Huns extended their rule over Transilvania after 420AD. After the disintegration of Attila's empire, Transilvania was inhabited by the remnants of various Hunnic, and a Germanic tribe, the Gepids.Ardaric was the most renowned king of the Gepids. According to Jordanes, he was one of the most trusted adherents of Attila the Hun, who "prized him above all the other chieftains". Although he was "famed for his loyalty and wisdom", Ardaric led the rebellion against Attila's sons and routed them in the Battle of Nedao, thus ending the Huns's supremacy in Europe.The Transilvanian Gepids remained with their semi-independent status inside the Kingdom of Gepids, but this relative autonomy came to an end in the late 6th century.They reached the zenith of their power after 537, settling in the rich area around Belgrade. In 546 the Byzantine Empire allied themselves with the Lombards to expel the Gepids from this region. In 552 the Gepids suffered a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Asfeld and were finally conquered by the Avars in 567. In fact the Gepids were exterminated from the entire Transilvanian region. We know only about slight Gepid remnants (cemeteries) in the Banat region after 600. In Transilvania we have no traces which indicate a Gepidic continuity after 567.The Avars and SlavsBy 568, the Avars under the capable leadership of their Kagan, Bayan, established in the Carpathian Basin an empire that lasted for 250 years. During this 250 years the Slavs were allowed to settle inside Transilvania and they started to clear the Carpathian's virgin forests.The Avars meet their demise with the rise of Charlemagne's Frankish empire. After a fierce seven year war and civil war between the Kagan and Yugurrus which lasted from 796-803 A.D., the Avars were defeated. The Transilvanian Avars were, subjugated by the Bulgars under Khan Krum at the beginning of the 9th century and Transilvania, along with eastern Pannonia, was incorporated into the First Bulgarian Empire.
Magyars Move on TransilvaniaIn 862 Prince Ratislav of Great Moravia rebelled against his lord, and, after hiring Magyar troops, won his independence; this is the first time when Magyar expeditionary troops entered the Carpathian Basin.After a devastating Bulgar and Pecheneg attack the Magyar tribes crossed the Carpathians and occupied the entire basin without significant resistance.According to the prime Gesta Hungarorum from the 11th century they entered Transilvania first, where Prince Almos was killed: "Almus in patria Erdelw occisus est, non enim potuit in Pannoniam introire". According to some archaeological findings near Turda (Golds of Prince Berthold of Bavaria) Transilvanian Magyars also participated in several raids against the West, Italy, or the Balkans. Although the defeat in the Battle of Lechfeld in 955 stopped the Magyar raids against western Europe, the raids on the Balkan Peninsula continued for another decade.The history of Transilvania during the Early Middle Ages is difficult to ascertain due to the scarcity of reliable written or archaeological evidence.Historians disagree about the reliability of one of the most important primary sources, the Gesta Hungarorum. There are two major conflicting theories concerning whether or not the Romanized Dacian population (one of the ancestors of the Romanians) continued to live in Transilvania after the withdrawal of the Romans, and therefore whether or not the Romanians were present in Transilvania at the time of the Great Migrations, particularly at the time of the Magyar migration. Conflicting hypotheses are often used to back competing nationalistic claims by Hungarian and Romanian chauvinists.The Magyar leader Árpád is believed to have led the Hungarians into the Carpathian Basin (and the Pannonian plain) in 896. When entering the Carpathian basin, the Magyars found a largely Slavic population there, such as the Bulgarians, Slovaks, Slovenians, Croats, etc., and minor remnants of the Avars (in the southwest).After conquering Transilvania, the Hungarians maintained the pre-Hungarian Slavic system of Voivode and local Knez rulers. This system re-emerged a couple of centuries later when the Vlachs from Transilvania founded the countries of Moldavia and Wallachia to the East and respectively South of the Carpathian mountains. Also several centuries later Bulgaria was to create a second empire of Slavs and Vlachs south of the Danube.
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The Goth Bishop Ulfilaş
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